Engine and torque transmitter control



June 1947. E. GRIESHABER ErAL 1.496

ENGINE DID TORQUE TRANSIITTER CONTROL Filed Dec. 27, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet l attorneys June 3, 1947. E. GRIESHABER ETAL ENGINE AND TORQUE TRANSMITTER CONTROL Filed Dec. 27, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Algi 3 mentors (Ittomegs Patented June 3, 1947 ENGINE AND TORQUE TRANSMITTER CONTROL Emil Grieshaber and William J. Johnson, Jr., Milwaukee, Wis., assignors to Nordberg Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin I, Application December 27, 1943, Serial No. 515,867

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the control of internal combustion engines as used, for example, in ship propulsion.

It is common practice to connect two Diesel engines to a single propeller shaft, each engine driving a corresponding pinion which meshes with a large gear on the propeller shaft. Between each engine and its pinion is interposed a torque transmitter, which usually is Fottinger hydraulic drive, or an electric reaction drive. These drives damp out vibration, give controlled slip and provide for complete disconnection.

The primary control of the energy input of the engines is manual, but an overspeed governor has been considered essential, and it is not uncommon to use two governors per engine in order to secure full control.

The purposes of the present invention are (l) to provide a single governor which will act to limit speed at two different values, a low speed appropriate to idling or no-load conditions and a higher speed for operation under load; (2) to afford limited adjustment of the low speed setting, and ready manual adjustment over a wide range, of the higher speed-limiting setting, the two adjustments being wholly independent; (3) to provide a shifting mechanism indifferent to the two adjustments and serving to select vbetween the two settings; and (4) to relate the shifting mechanism to the torque transmitter in. such a way that failure or deenergization of the torque transmitter will set the governor of the corresponding engine for low speed.

Generally stated there is a shiftable seat for the speeder spring of the governor. This seat is biased toward a low speed stop by the speeder spring. The seat may be shifted in the other direction until arrested by an adjustable high speed stop, and such shift is effected by energizing a solenoid which stresses a loading spring heavy enough to move the spring seat full stroke and hold it against the high speed stop in any adjusted position thereof, despite the reaction of the speeder spring. The solenoid is energized simultaneously with the energization of the corresponding torque transmitter, so that disconnection of the engine intentionally or by accident will set the governor to limit the engine to idling speed.

Thus the desirable characteristics of manual control are possible, using a single governor to limit engine speed automatically,and to values appropriate to load conditions.

In the accompanying drawings the invention is illustrated as embodied in a Woodward governor. 55

The resulting governor mechanism is not claimed herein but forms the subject matter of a divisional application Serial No. 565,689, filed November 29, 1944.

Figure 1 is a, vertical axial section through th governor on the line l-I of Fig. 2.

Figure 2 is a similar section on the line 2-4 of Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic plan showing how the solenoid circuit of each of two governors is connected to the torque transmitter circuit of two engines with corresponding ones of which the respective governors are associated.

, The Woodward governor chosen for illustration is of a type in which the fuel limiting control mechanism of the related engine is actuated by a servomotor generally indicated in Figure 1 by the numeral H.

The controlling element is a piston valve I2 which regulates admission and exhaust flows through ports in a valve seat l3. This seat rotates but does not move axially in the governor housing M. The upper end of the rotating valve seat l3 carries a yoke 20 upon which the flyball carriers l5 are pivoted by means of annular ball hearings 16. The fiy-ball carriers have inwardly projecting arms which react upwardly on the outer race I! of a ball thrust bearing carried by the upper end of the stem of valve 12. The stem [2 carries above the ball thrust bearing H a spring seat l8 upon'which reacts the trumpet shaped speeder spring I9.

The parts so far described are of standard construction and function in their usual manner,

. so that no elaborate description of details is es-- sential. The significant thing so far as the presnt invention is concerned is the presence of a fiy-ball governor or its equivalent having a speeder spring 19. One of the features of novelty is the way in which the upper end of the speeder spring I9 is sustained.

Vertically guided in a guideway formed in bracket 2| sustained by the governor housing is a tube 22. Slidable within and guided by the tube 22 is a. spring seat 23 having a laterally extending stem 24 which works in a longitudinal motion-limiting slot 25 formed in the tube 22. Carried by a portion of the bracket 2! is an adjustable stop screw 26 which is in the path of the stem 24 and serves to limit the upward movement of the spring seat 23in the tube 22, Stop screw 26 determines the idling or low speed adjustment of the speeder spring l9. and this adjustment is in eiiect when the stem 24 isin engagement with the lower end of the stop screw 28. This is a semi-permanent adjustment and consequently the stop screw 23 is locked by a. check nut as shown. The lower end of the slot 25 serves as the stop which determines the downward limit of motion of the spring seat 23 and establishes a. high-speed limiting adjustment of the stress on the speeder spring l8. Adjustment is made by sliding the tube vertically.

The illustrated means for effecting the adjustment comprises a pinion 21 which enga es rack teeth 28 formed on the tube 22. The pinion 21 may be rotated by a motion reducing gear train comprising the gears 28, 3|, 32 and 33, the gear 33 being turned by a knob 34 which is accessible for manual adjustment. The arrangement is clearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. By turning the knob 34 the operator moves the tube :2 vertically and thus changes the position of the lower end of the slot 25.

The speeder spring I3 biases spring seat 23 upward until arrested by the low speed stop 23. To establish the high speed adjustment the spring seat 23 must be urged downward with a force suiiicient to overpower the reaction of the speeder spring IS. The range of such motion is variable, being dependent on the adjustment of the sleeve 22. In order to accommodate the contemplated variations in the range of motion, the downward thrust is delivered through a coil compression spring 35. This reacts downward on a flange on the lower end of a stem 33 which is in thrust engagement with the spring seat 23. At its upper end the spring 35 is seated against the upper end of a cuplike thrust member 31 which is slidably mounted on the tube 22, and has near its lower end an encircling flange 38.

A lever 38 is fulcrumed at 4| in the governor housing and is forked at its righthand end to straddle the cup-shaped member 31 and engage the flange 88. The other end of the lever 33 is connected by a. link 42 with the movable core or armature 43 of a solenoid motor. When the solenoid motor is deenergized, the lever 38 swings counterclockwise, relieving the stress on the spring 35 so that the spring seat 23 moves to the upper or low speed position. When the motor is energized the lever 38 turns clockwise to the position illustrated in Fig. 1, stressing spring 33 sufficiently to hold the spring seat 23 in the lowest position permitted by the existing adjustment of the sleeve 22, whatever that may be. At such times the stem 24 engages the lower end of the slot 25. The construction permits the actuating motor to move full stroke regardless of the existing adjustments.

Since the governor is to be controlled in relation to the torque transmitter and since the governor should shift to low-speed setting upon failure of any part of the system, it is desirable that the solenoid permit establishment of the low-speed setting when the solenoid is deenergized. Consequently the solenoid is energized constantly under normal running conditions, a consideration which controls its design.

The solenoid motor has two windings 45 and 43 wound on a laminated core 41 and connected in series. An L-shaped lever 48 fulcrumed at 48 and biased clockwise (as seen in Fig. 1) by spring 5| carries a contactor 52 which is insulated from the lever 48 at 53. When the lever is allowed to turn clockwise, it engages contacts 54 and 55 establishing a shunt path around winding 43 (see Fig. 3). This condition subsists until armature 43 nears its uppermost position, at which time a head 58 carried by the armature 43 strikes lever the patent to Sperry 1,682,358, granted AW 28,

1928. Pinions 33 and 34 drive gear 31 on Miler shaft 88.

Assuming engines 3| and 32 are Diesel engines. engine 3| has a. controller 1! and engine 32 a similar controller 12 connected respectively as indicated at 13 and 14 to the fuel controls of the engine. Each also operates a corresponding switch 13, 13 respectively controlling through relay switches I1, 18 the energizing circuits A and B of the torque transmitters 38, 33. The relay switch mechanisms 11 and 18 would include the usual protective devices (1. e. circuit breakers and the like) for the circuits which they control.

Associated with each engine 3|, 32 is one of two governors of the type shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Each governor is driven by its own engine and limits the fuel feed ofthat engine through connections which are conventional and hence are not diagrammed in Fig. 3.

The windings 43, 43 of each governor are in circults C and D related to circuits A and 8 respectively so as to be deenergized whenever the corresponding torque transmitter is deenergized and consequently uncoupled or inactive.

Considering the controller 1| and referring to the idling position in which it is shown, the torque transmitter 65 is deenergized by the opening of switch 15 as are the windings 43, 48 of the related governor which thus limits the speed of engine 3i to idling speed. Controller 12', however is shown set for low speed under load. Its switch 18 is closed. Thus the related torque transmitter 33 is energized to connect the engine 32 to its load, and windings 45, 43 of the governor driven by engine 32 are energized, setting the governor to impose the higher limit on the speed of engine 32.

The circuits are indicated only in the simplest diagram to disclose the principle, and the various protective devices used in commercial installations are omitted to avoid confusing the drawings.

It is sometimes necessary, for test or warm up and similar purposes, to operate an engine above idling speed but not under load. To permit this, the governor shown in Figs. 1 and 2 can be locked in high-speed setting. A counterbored plunger 8| with actuating knob 82 and bayonet-lock slot 33 is guided in the top of the governor housing. It is shown locked in its upper or inactive position. It may be moved down manually and locked in a position in which thrust member 31 is held fully depressed. At such time the gov-' emor imposes the higher speed limit.

In certain of the claims the term torque transmitter of the dynamic reaction type" is used generically to include Fottinger torque converters (fluid drives), transmitters of the Sperry type and functionally similar devices characterized by speed differentials between driving and driven elements, and by the possibility of disconnection.

A preferred embodiment of the governor and one application thereof has been described in considerable detail, but merely to disclose the principles of the invention, the scope of which will be defined in the claims.

What is claimed is:

l. The combination of an engine; a governor arranged to limit the energy input ofsaid engine; motor means for setting said governor to establish different engine limit-speeds appropriate to idling conditions and loaded conditions of engine operation; torque transmitting means of the dynamic reaction type through which load is imposed on said engine; and means for energizing said torque transmitting means and said m0- tor, so arranged that the governor is set for load conditions when the torque transmitting means is energized and for no load conditions at other times.

2. The combination of an engine; a governor arranged to limit the energy input or said engine;

speed limiting governor driven by and exercising a supervising control over said engine; shiftable means for setting said governor to impose a low idling speed limit on said engine and alternatively a higher operating speed limit on said engine; a torque transmitter of the dynamic reaction type through which said engine is loaded; and connections between said torque transmitter and said shiftable means serving to cause shift of the latter to its low speed setting when the torque transmitter is inactive and to the high speed setting when the torque transmitter is active.

E'MIL GRIESHABER.

WILLIAM J. JOHNSON, JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED' STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,941,500 Simmen Jan. 2, 1934 2,139,194 Lichtenstein Dec. 6, 1938 2,218,760 MacNeil et a1. Oct. 22, 1940 2,159,863 Schilling May 23,1939 1,620,764 Hul1 Mar. 15, 1927 2,326,911 Aikman Aug. 17, 1943 

